Razer to open brick-and-mortar storefront in San Francisco

You can try before you buy at the RazerStore

One of the hardest business cases to make in the era of Amazon, Newegg, and online shopping is that going from etailer to retailer can make financial sense. Razer announced today that it will be opening a physical storefront in San Francisco on Saturday, May 21. The company calls its physical storefronts RazerStores.

While this is the peripheral maker’s stateside RazerStore, Razer has opened physical storefronts before in Taipei, Bangkok, and Manila. One of the store openings saw 2,000 fans camp overnight before the opening, the company says. The 1,300 square-foot U.S. store will be located in the Westfield Mall, not far from San Francisco’s Moscone Center where Google I/O is taking place this week.

The store will feature 20 gaming stations with Razer peripherals that will be free for anyone to use. The gaming stations, Razer says, will include both PCs and consoles, and will also have listening and other experiences. The company says that patrons will be invited to play games on-site, and that the company will host gaming events as well.

While Razer is a company that is known for its eccentricity, Razer is in good company in going with this move. A lot of retailers are offering goods online, undermining their brick-and-mortar operations. Some of those retailers are moving their brick-and-mortar operations away from selling the goods themselves to offering experiences for shoppers that will buy them online later. Marketplace had a great segment about this very phenomenon last week. Razer seems to be looking to incorporate the idea of a tech showcase, instead of emulating something more akin to RadioShack.

On the opening weekend of the San Francisco RazerStore, Razer will offer up events, giveaways, and contests. Patrons could win t-shirts, peripherals or “l33t packs.”